The common arrangement of signal lines in semiconductor memory devices having a conventional "stack bank" structure consists of a word line and a local data input/output line pair arranged in the same direction, and a global data input/output line pair arranged perpendicular to the local data input/output line pair. The memory cell array of such a structure includes a plurality of memory cell array banks arranged in the direction of a word line, and a plurality of memory cell array blocks of each memory cell array bank also arranged in the direction of a word line. Each of the memory cell array blocks is partitioned into a predetermined number of separated partial blocks, each of the separated partial blocks being connected to each of the local data input/output line pairs, and each of the separated local data input/output line pairs being in turn connected to each of a plurality of global data input/output line pairs.
Thus, in the conventional stack-bank style semiconductor memory device, not only are the memory cell array blocks separated into a predetermined number of partial blocks, but also the local data input/output line pair of each partial block is likewise separated. Further, precharge circuits for precharging each of the local data input/output line pairs are necessary for each of the predetermined number of separated local data input/output line pairs.
Thus, the conventional stack-bank semiconductor memory device configuration results in a large overall chip size, due to the multiple precharge circuits required.